Borderlands: Rebellion
by AceWylden
Summary: My first fanfiction. Ace, a new vault hunter from Hyperion, hates Hyperion. Deciding to leave, Ace meets up with other strange vault hunters and those who came before him. He learns the truth of things and what Vladof is doing to take reign of Pandora from DAHL, who came back to claim their reign on the planet, once again.
1. Ace

**Borderlands: Rebellion**

Chapter 1: Ace

June 6th 15:00

"Garrett, you've gone mad with power. Give me your gun." I was talking to an insane friend of mine who had just killed everyone on my floor and covered himself in their blood. After this he found me walking down the stairs after a talk with one of the other Hyperion engineers.

"NO, WEAKLING!" He shouted at me, before he opened fire. Literally.

From Garrett's mouth came a stream of flame that licked and burned everything it could reach. I rolled out of the way just as it reached me. Where I was a moment before there was a huge hole that looked down into my base's garage/lab. All the décor in the hall were burning, twisting statues and paintings into grotesque, demonic art. It was time to act, letting him burn the hallway was about as much as I could take. Drawing my SMG from my SDU I took aim and pulled the trigger, letting loose 32 rounds of pure hate into Garrett's chest, but that didn't slow him down.

He turned towards the wall and punched a hole where he could access the pipes inside. Ripping one out, he turned back to me to find that his flame had caught up to him and was eating at his legs. He let out a maniacal laugh and shouted that he could hear with his teeth before succumbing to the immense heat. I got the nearest fire extinguisher and took the next 15 minutes to combat the raging flames. After all this I drew my shotgun and walked over to Garrett's corpse. I didn't want to take a chance so I pointed the shotgun to his distorted, burnt face. As I did this, Garrett's eyes opened and he smacked the shotgun out of my hands.

"MR. SKAGGLES WANTS TO SAY HELLO!" He bellowed as he tried unsuccessfully to get up. His legs were little more than strips of flesh after what the fire did to him. I calmly picked my shotgun back up and placed the barrel on his forehead.

"Tell him I say 'goodbye'" pulling the trigger, I ended my former friend's life. "Damn, Hyperion, you really know how to make a guy quit, doncha?" I sighed before taking the three flights of stairs up to my commanding officer's office.

General Jackson was a very difficult leader. He was tough though, and I respected that. He was a big, dark skinned man, coming in at 6'5", he was armed with a Hyperion electric shotgun and two Vladof assault rifles, slag and incendiary, respectively. He wore armor so tough that a constructor had a run for its money and he had an attitude fit for the BNK-3R (which was f*ck you)

I knocked on his door and walked in, shutting the door behind me. I gulped as I found his deep brown eyes staring, angrily, at my golden ones. "Sir?" I started, nervous as hell as what he'd say to my request. "I'd like to leave the Hyperion military squad 'Front Line'." I held his stare, hoping he wouldn't kill me where I stood.

"You want to leave, huh?" Jackson said as he stood up, picking up a Jakobs revolver as he went. "The only way you get to leave a Hyperion military squad is death-" He said while checking the revolver for ammunition. "-or going AWOL. I hope it's the second one, hell, I'' even give you a ten second head-start to get out of here!" He said, chuckling at the thought. He pointed the revolver at my chest. "Which one?"

I should've expected this from my general, nevertheless, I tried and now I might die. Fantastic. I looked desperately around the room for something I could use as a weapon. I spotted a monkey wrench lying on Jackson's desk and thought it was better than nothing. With quick reflexes that all combat engineers were required to have, I grabbed the monkey wrench and buried it deep in my commanding officer's head. Hearing his skull crack sent a shiver down my spine, but I reminded myself it was either me or him. As I wasn't one to take chances, I pried the revolver from his hands and unloaded it into his face.

I took his weapons and strapped the monkey wrench and revolver to my waist. I strolled, humming a happy tune to myself, through the base to my room. My room was a small dorm-like room with cameras pointed to see every inch of it. Hyperion watched your every move, because of that, I had to get out soon before the loaders came to take me to jail for killing the general. I grabbed my combat engineer armor and decided I didn't want to be seen in this armor again. I grabbed Garrett's Hyperion hawk armor and my ECHO device. I turned it on to set up a heads-up display. I drew my revolver to make sure it worked. Noting the crosshair, I put the gun away and walked down to the lab/garage.

I decided I was not going to be alone for however long it took me to find civilization. I stole a Surveyor from the lab. There were a stash of upgrades for it nearby, I grabbed those and shoved them into my SDU. I strapped the surveyor onto my back, making sure it wouldn't fall off. I walked out of the garage and looked back at the giant yellow and white building I called my home for the past 8 years.

"Should be a long journey ahead of me" I said aloud to myself. "I won't be able to stop and rest for awhile. But that's alright, because there ain't no rest for the wicked" I laughed before walking off into the desert.


	2. Backstory

**Borderlands: Rebellion**

Chapter 2: Backstory

Before recent events

I was sent into the army when I was eight because I was disobeying my parents. None of the other companies would take me in, saying I was "too small and too weak" to do much of anything. Except for Hyperion, they were willing as hell, they told my parents I would be brought up to follow orders and question nothing; the perfect kid.

What really happened was this: Hyperion stole my father, did slag experiments on him, mutated him into a badass psycho, and had him kill and eat my mother. After all this the Hyperion leader, Handsome Jack made me slit my little sister's throat. As if all this wasn't enough, I had to fight my father in an arena for entertainment to Hyperion men and women.

I was thrown into a huge arena with scarce cover, broken barricades, scattered about. My father stood on the other side, two giant buzz axes in hand. I looked behind me to find a weapon rack with every type of weapon from every manufacturer out there. Including old S and S weapons. All the weapons, beside the Tediore pistol, were way too heavy and I couldn't handle the kick. I was 10 with the only gun training taught to me was "point and shoot".

Gripping the pistol hard, I stared at my shell of a father the psycho truly was. He was seven feet tall with bandit symbols drawn all over him. He brandished the buzz axes and yelled out "THEY TOLD ME TO BRING A PAIL! BUT YOU, LOOK PALE ENOUGH!" he then rushed me, moving faster than a rabid skag. I panicked and held the trigger down, aiming at his chest. He didn't slow down and my pistol's magazine was exhausted. Remembering what I was taught in movies, I looked for a way to reload the weapon. There was no visible way. My adrenaline kicked in as I looked up to find my father less than eight feet away. I threw the pistol at him, as it made contact, an explosion came clear and both my dad and me staggered backwards. I made an effort to rub my eyes to overcome the blindness that ensued, in the process, I accidentally hit my head with the pistol.

...wait...

I jumped as I found the weapon back in my hand, even after it exploded. I saw my psycho dad start to get up and charge me yet again. With lightning reflexes, I raised the gun and held the trigger, keeping the gun centered on him. When I heard the audible click of the gun, alerting me I was out of ammo, I brought my arm back and chucked the weapon as hard as I could. The force of the explosion blew his psycho mask off, revealing the grotesque, disfigured face of my father.

Right before he fell to the ground, he looked at me and recognition shown in his eyes. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed on the floor. I dropped the gun and sank to my knees.

I cried.

For what seemed like an hour, I sat there with hands on my head, as Hyperion men and women filed out to leave me, a lone dark figure in the bright lights of the arena. Why did he have to recognize me? Make it that much harder?

"Hey buddy, you did a great job." A hand was laid on my right shoulder. I turned around to stare into the masked face of Handsome Jack. The fearsome leader of Hyperion. "When I wake the great warrior of the vault, I'll let you control him, for like, five minutes, sound good?" He patted my shoulder, crouched down and grabbed the pistol. He rose up and set it back on the weapon rack. "Better clear out of here soon, Ace, the loaders'll be here soon for clean up. They may or may not target you as a bandit."

After a few more minutes, I rose to my feet and walked to my room, tripping and staggering the whole way. Shocked from my whole ordeal. I found my room, messy as always with games and toys. I flopped into bed for a well deserved nap.


	3. Another one bites The Dust

**Borderlands: Rebellion**

Chapter 3: Another one bites The Dust

June 7th 18:00

"Are we there yet?" A robotic voice asked me.

"We've been in a desert for a day. Fighting off Spiderants, Scythids, and skags. There has been no sign of civilization. No ammo, water or food. Now tell me, do you think we're there?" I asked, dumbfounded at how idiotic this surveyor really was. There was a welcome silence for a while before he answered.

"Yes?" He responded

I sighed, "no, surveyor, we're not there." I should've traveled alone.

"Can I have a name?" he asked.

"A what?" I said, rolling my eyes.

"A name! Everyone else has a name, you're Ace, Hyperion's leader was Handsome Jack, and your general even had one! Can I get one?" He asked, his eye looking over at me, hopefully.

"For the love of the Eridians. Fine, how about" I thought about it, something iconic. Something people would remember for years "Spade?"

"Hmm" He looked down for a moment before exclaiming "I LOVE IT!" he then jetted about and then came back to me.

"Yeah, yeah. C'mon, I'm switching you off." I reached over and pressed a button to make him shut down. Catching him, I strapped him to my back. Silence.

I pushed on, the heat making me unbearably hot. As I was walking over a dune, I saw movement. I Took out my binoculars and looked through. There were a dozen scythids trying to defeat an alpha skag and three pups. It would take too long to go around them. I drew my revolver and slid down the dune. They couldn't see me yet, so I checked how much ammunition I had left. Four shots. Perfect.

"Heyo, guys! I don't mean to intrude-" at this, the scythids turned towards me. This left the skags with an oppurtune moment to slice through four crawlers, three deserts, and two bursting scythids. This left two badass shock scythids and one badass fire. The pups charged me, leaving the alpha with the badasses.

I drew my wrench and started smashing the skags, already weak from the bursting scythids. They yelped as I hit them, again and again, brusing them and breaking bones. Everytime one of them almost died, they would roar and I would bury the wrench in their face. Killing them. I looked up to see the alpha skag jump on one of the shock scythids and rip its head off. Green blood fountained out of the hole in the scythid almost comically, before the thing fell to the ground. The skag roared its cry of victory. Noting my chance, I looked down the sights of my pistol and took one clean shot. The skag stopped mid-roar and dropped.

"Heh, light 'em up!" I yelled. Enjoying the bloodshed. The scythids turned to me screaming at a very high-pitch. I emptied the pistol into the shock scythid, knocking him down a little below half health. He was staggering, not used to taking shots. When he caught himself and looked back to me I was charging at him at top speed with wrench at the ready. I tackled him, knocking him onto his back, his soft blue underbelly exposed. I started wailing on him with the wrench, watching his health fall and the blood start covering my helmet. I laughed as he died, his screaming fueling my andrenaline.

I turned to the last badass and saw him visibly shaking. I smiled sadistically and powered on Spade. Spade came out and immediately noticed the badass, he jetted around, coming in at lightning speed each time to shoot shock missles at the scythid. The scythid died when Spade ran out of energy and fell to the ground. I went and collected him, strapping him to my back and continuting on my way.

Over the next dune I saw a huge junkyard with a building in the center. I decided I might be able to stay there. Maybe set up a base of operations. When I reached it, a big woman greeted me.

"Oh howdy! You must be a customer? I'm Ellie, now, what kind of vehicle would you like? We have the best runners you'll find and some bandit techs so you can act like one of those bandit 'sumbitches!" She said, cheerfully.

"Oh...umm, Hi, Ellie? I'm Ace and I'm lost, where am I, ma'am?" I asked, so confused to meet anyone, especially someone like her, in the desert.

"Oh, well sir, you're in The Dust. Pandora's desert all year round...wait a second. Is-is-is that Hyperion armor?" she asked, her face contorting into fear.

"Oh, um, yeah-" I started

The woman, Ellie, immediately pulled out an ECHO recorder. "Crimson Raiders? Umm, there's a Hyperion soldier here. Can you come kill him, a little? Yeah? Okay, thanks."

She turned back to me, putting the ECHO back in her pocket. "Don't move, asshole."

I knew making friends was going to be tough.


	4. Questions later

**Borderlands: Rebellion**

Chapter 4: Questions later

June 7th 20:00

"I'll say it one more time, amigo, why are you here?!" A truxican midget wielding my revolver yelled at me. Everytime he asked, though, I said the same thing.

I was sitting in a huge, dark room of a Hyperion barge. The barge had many different chests, all unopened. There were Hyperion, Dahl, and bandit chests of all shapes, sizes, and models. The walls themselves held Maliwan, Jakobs, and Hyperion snipers. The Barge itself was painted a crimson color with a picture of Handsome Jack's face crossed out and a few pictures of loaders that most likely symbolised kills by whoever used those snipers.

I sighed. "I'm an ex-Hyperion combat engineer. I hated my life in the Hyperion military, there were always mutant outbreaks and orders to kill our own friends. I killed my psychotic best friend, Garrett, then I went and killed my commanding officer because he was an asshole. Questions, comments, concerns?"

"Si, si, you said the same thing a million times before! I know what you are, you're a Hyperion assassin! Sent here by, whatever president has taken over, to kill us all!"

"If I say yes will you let me go?" I asked, hopefully

"No" I couldn't tell if that was truxican or common language.

"Then nevermind" I said, sighing, I just can't catch a break, can I?

"Leave him alone now/He isn't of any help/Let us kill him soon" said a suited and helmeted man in the back of the room. His right foot was up with the back of his foot on the wall. He had his arms crossed in his jet black suit and the number zero popped up onto his helmet.

"Alright guys, please don't kill me, I swear that what I say is truth." I pleaded, I was frustrated and this isn't where I wanted to die.

"We could test him right?/Maya's thoughtlock could change him/he might tell the truth." The tall man said again in what appeared to be Haiku format.

"Hmm, we could. But who'll know if we just throw him off the barge? I'm sure Axton won't mind stopping so we could toss him!" The short truxican let out a long, hearty bellow.

"I'll go ask him then/I really don't care any way/Hey, Axton, door up?" Mr. Mysterious Haiku guy said as he stood up and hit an intercom button to the cockpit.

"Roger that, Zero." Said a male voice as the door slid up.

Zero turned around and a 'BRB' appeared on his helmet. He then walked into the cockpit as the door slid shut behind him.

After a few tense minutes of Mr. Truxican Bro laughing as he stuck the revolver against my head, pulled the trigger, and then hearing the click of an unloaded gun, an average height man walked out in military dress. Combat boots, a small knapsack, and dog tags improved this appearance. His rank was tattooed above his left eye and he looked at me with a sympathetic expression.

"Are you the Hyperion that Zero was talking about?" He asked me in a 'short and to the point' voice.

"Uhhh, yeah"

He put out a hand "I'm Axton. and you?"

I stared at the hand for a minute before shaking it "I'm Ace, thanks."

"No problem, kid, I'm from Dahl and if Dahl attacked I would immediately be blamed. I won't blame you for anything your company did. I'll blame you for anything you do from here on out, alright?"

"Yes, sir, no problem" I said, happy as ever.

"Kid, I'm not the leader, so don't call me sir." He smiled and turned back to the cockpit. As he reached the door he turned back to the Truxican midget. "Salvador, introduce yourself."

"Ugh, Pendejo..."

"Watch it Salvador/" Zero said as he walked out of the cockpit once Axton went back in "Our captain is at the wheel/do not insult him."

"Yeah, yeah..." He turned back to me, looked up, and raised his hand. "I am Salvador, the gunzerker!" He bellowed, making his voice as loud as possible.

"What in the hell is a gunzerker?" I asked, before shaking his hand.

"Well, a gunzerker does THIS!" He yelled even louder before drawing two Vladof assault rifles.

"Wait, two guns?" I stared at him quizzically

"Si, amigo"

"Damn"


	5. Welcome to Sanctuary

**Borderlands: Rebellion**

Chapter 5: Welcome to Sanctuary

June 8th 9:00

"Excuse me, please wake/we are at Sanctuary/time to get out, now." Zero was slapping me as I laid down. The floor was uncomfortable but it worked.

"Alright, alright, I'm up. Thank you, Zero." I said, nudging his hand out of my face and wiping the sleep from my eyes. "Let's roll."

I stood up and rocked back and forth on my heels as I stretched my arms as far out as they would go. Zero walked towards the back of the ship and I followed close behind, not wanting to be left on a strange barge in a strange place alone. I stepped out of the barge into a wide open area near the front of the city. I started to look around, turning as I went. Directly infront of me was Scooter's Catch-A-Ride. I had no idea who Scooter was and right now, the garage doors were closed. I turned to peer, not into an entrance gate, but instead the sky, the road led off right into the freaking sky. This mean either one, I was drugged, or two, this city floated in the freaking sky. Amazing. I kept turning to some stairs that led up to a bar named "Moxxxi's". I continued to turn and ended up back at Scooter's place and a path leading upward into the city.

"Wow" I said aloud, still soaking in that this city could fly.

"It is impressive/I love this place like my home/my Pandoran home." Zero also stood in awe next to me, his helmet facing the sky.

He walked up the path next to Scooter's and I follwed. From what I could tell, the city had Dahl origin as most of the billboards said "Dahl" on them. We walked into the town square and I looked around once again. There was a shut down news stand behind me, a giant pillar of light in the middle, the fast travel station behind that, a motel with glowing purple lights down the right path, and a store with the sign saying "Marcus" on it down the left.

Zero was leading me to the town's archives with a sign that said "Crimson Raiders" on it. He unlocked the door and inside were a row of bunk beds, some desks to the right, and some washers farther down. Some lady was inside working at the desk working on some complicated shield.

The woman was quite cute, she had goggles on her head, the eye pieces brought up to her forehead, she had rather messy, short, dark brunette hair. She wore a long red coat, a black top that revealed nothing, tall boot almost reaching her knees, and black pants that were slightly tight on her. She looked up at me and her eyes flashed for a second. I wasn't sure if it was a "hey, he's cute" look or a "please don't get near me" look. It was most likely the latter.

Zero gestured for me to walk upstairs and I followed, glancing back at the girl. She was still looking at me, and when she noticed me looking she went back to working. I smiled, was she shy? I tried to focus on walking up the stairs without tripping and walked into a small war room with a holo map of all of Pandora. Inside was Salvador the gunzerker, Axton, a laid back and skinny as hell truxican man, and a redhead with blue tattoos along her body.

Zero pointed to everyone including himself and introduced them. "This is Salvador the gunzerker. He dualwields any two guns." He gestured to Axton, the tall military man "That is Axton the Commando. He has the ability to throw out a turret or two." He turned to the tall truxican man "Mordecai, our hunter. He is quite the sniper" Mordecai waved a bottle in our general direction. He pointed to the redhead "and this is Lilith, one of our sirens. She has the ability to phasewalk, moving into a different dimension and appearing in a different place." He turned to me and put his hand on his chest "I am named Zero/assassin of our big group/I use deception" He then procceded to disappear from my sight "I can dissapear/a ghost amidst the combat/preparing to strike." He reappeared behind me and put a hand on my soldier "Ace, what do you do?"

"Oh, ummm, I can-"

"Hold on, Zero" The redhead, Lilith said. "Isn't that Hyperion armor?"

"God dammit" I said before ducking away, back towards the staircase.

"Wait, Lilith!" I heard Zero yell, blocking Lilith from getting to me, Salvador and Axton were also trying to stop her and Mordecai was jumping off the balcony of the building into the street.

"Salvador! Go after Mordecai, Zero and I will hold off Lilith" Axton said, immediately taking the leadership role.

I ran down the stairs and tried to hide underneath one of the beds in front of me. I heard Mordecai rush in and I felt his gaze scan the room. He barked at the woman I saw earlier "Tannis! Where is that Hyperion bastard?"

"What are you talking about, bird-lover?" She said, her voice unemotional.

"Watch it, you bitch!" I heard him scream, stomp over to her and slap her.

I got out from under the bed and ran towards Mordecai, he spun around towards me right as I threw a punch at his head. It hit him square in the nose and he fell, bleeding. He started to get up, drawing his sword with him as he went.

"Alright, Hyperion, we've already killed most of you and your boss. Get out" He brandished his sword and held it, ready to cut me open. I wasn't having any of that so I took my wrench and threw it, aiming for his groin. The wrench connected and a yelp escaped from his falling form.

"AAAGH, DIABLO!" He yelled at me, before falling to his knees and starting to sniffle.

I proceeded to kick him over and I looked for the woman. She was sitting with her knees to her chest, holding them for dear life. I reached out a hand towards her. "You okay?"

She responded, shakily "Yes...yeah, I think so. Who are you?" She took my hand

I smiled at her and lifted her up. When she was up and her face was close to mine I finally told her my name.

"I'm Ace, it's short for Horace, but don't tell anyone, alright?" I asked, trusting this girl immensely.

"Of course not, Ace" she smiled and then wrapped her arms around me in a hug.

I sat stunned for a moment and then held her head to my chest and wrapping my other arm around her back. Sanctuary seemed like a pretty great place.


	6. The Siren song

**Borderlands: Rebellion**

Chapter 6: The Siren song

June 8th 10:00

"Lilith? You calm now?" I heard Axton ask from upstairs. Lilith demanded to know why there was a Hyperion soldier here and I decided Axton may need help explaining. I told Patricia that I would be right back and she smiled from her desk, going back to work on the shield.

As soon as Lilith saw me she screamed "murderer" at me and her eyes glowed.

"Lilith, wait" I said, being as calm and slow-moving as possible I took off my SDU and dropped it on the floor of the base. "I don't have any weapons on me" I said, dropping the wrench on my side "see? I just want to show you I'm peaceful; against Hyperion." She calmed down a little but refused to come near me.

"Alright, let's settle this" Axton said, bringing out some chairs from a closet nearby. He set them up by the map and turned off the map's display. "Lilith, sit here. And Ace? You sit across from her." He moved up to the front of the table "I'll sit here, to make sure you don't kill each other. Zero, go check on Mordecai, I heard Ace smacking him around earlier. Get him to Zed's if he needs it, Salvador will help you."

Zero nodded and left the room, off to see what damage I had done to Mordecai.

"Now, Ace, tell your story to Lilith. She should calm down once she understands-"

"Doubt it" she said, arms crossed

Axton shot her an angry look and then proceeded to talk "and then Lilith can say why she hates Hyperion so much that it led her to attack you, sound good?"

I nodded and Lilith mumbled something before starting to look over her nails.

I sighed "Well, it started a while ago, when I was about 8..."

"Message to all Crimson Raiders, this is Maya on the Wasp. Brick, Gaige, Krieg, and I have a Class-B prisoner. Repeat: a Class-B prisoner. We require assistance in bringing him in and we need the landing zone cleared. The Bloodwing is in the way of our landing."

"Ah hell" Lilith said before sitting straight up."Mordecai is out cold so he can't move it, Axton?"

"Great, great." Axton sighed, obviously exasperated. "Fine, Ace? I give you full permission to defend yourself against her if she attacks. Lilith? Don't kill him, please?"

"No promises" she said, smirking. "Go move the ship, 'leader'"

"I'm not the leader" He grunted, before turning to the stairs.

As soon as he was well enough away, Lilith turned to me and clenched her fists. She ran at me as I covered my face with my arms. I was suddenly blasted away into the wall from the force of some explosion. It didn't hurt too much, but it certainly stunned me. I fell from the wall into a sitting position and I started to stand up when another explosion hit me, slamming the back of my head back into the wall. I looked up, stars in my eyes, to find Lilith standing right in front of me, fists raised.

"Look, Hyperion. We wiped you out, your loaders, your personnel, and your leader himself. We even killed your GOD DAMN WARRIOR!" Lilith screamed at me, obviously angry.

Lilith pulled me up, pulling her other arm back to punch me like I punched Mordecai. "Lights out!" She screamed, letting her fist fly.

"Freeze!" I heard, Another girl said as she walked into the room, arm raised. I fell from Lilith's grasp and onto the floor, hitting hard. The new girl said she was sorry about Lilith's behavior but she would probably calm down soon enough. I looked back to Lilith to find her gasping for breath, clawing at her chest.

"What did you do to her?" I asked the new girl.

She smiled at me and started explaining "I have to ability to phaselock creatures and people. Locking them in another dimension where they can die a slow miserable death. Some people, however, are too strong to be phaselocked so they just get the wind knocked out of them, like her." She finished, pointing to Lilith. "Axton told me you might be in some trouble, being with Lilith. Anyway, I'm Maya, and you?"

"Oh, ummm, I'm Ace, a Hyperion combat engineer." I said, worried she might use her phaselocking powers on me as well.

Maya nodded "and what do you do?"

"Err, I have a surveyor, Spade, who can restore my shields, fight enemies, and act as a decoy." I nervously said, watching her hand to make sure she didn't start to phaselock me.

"Hmm, interesting. You could be a valuable member. Would you mind telling me why you left Hyperion?"

Here we go again "Well, I first got into Hyperion when I was 8..."


	7. An Accident waiting to happen

**Borderlands: Rebellion**

Chapter 7: An Accident waiting to happen

June 8th 10:30

Maya nodded as I finished my story. "Makes enough sense, anyway, we need your help right now. Some Vladof asshole showed up, trying to kidnap Gaige. We need to get him tied up and questioned. You up for it?"

I nodded. Surprised she trusted me so quickly. I retrieved my SDU and wrench and then followed her back downstairs and halfway to the front of the town. The apparent landing pad for the barges. Maya turned around to find Lilith jumping off the balcony and chasing after us.

"Wait!" she called. She didn't have any weapons, and she didn't look like she had a killing intent in her eyes. She caught up to us, panted, and started to talk "Look, I'm calm now. I heard Ace's story and I understand wanting to leave your own corporation, or at least Roland did, anyway let me come with, I gotta see this new Vladof. We need as much information as possible."

"As long as you don't try to kill him" she said, turning back around and continuing to walk towards the front of town.

We reached the stairs leading down to the landing pad when a roaring was heard and a man in full, gunmetal black, armor rushed out at us. He started to run towards the edge of the pad and jump when Maya stopped him where he was.

"What are you doing, you idiot!" She yelled at him, seconds from falling to his death.

Lilith teleported to the man, getting there as the phaselock ended and catching the armored behemoth. Lilith fell from the weight comically, letting the man roll onto the floor. A second later, two brutes full of muscle came rushing out of the barge, barely fitting through and turned to see the man slowly get to his knees and stand up.

"Slab, get him!" said the man who obviously skipped leg day.

"YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!" Mr. Too Good For A Shirt yelled, rushing after the ironclad giant. Mr. TGFAS dive tackled him.

Off.

The.

Edge.

"No, Krieg!" Maya yelled, holding out her hand futily.

I burst into action, training taking over. All Combat engineers learned one crucial thing: Do whatever it takes to save your friends. Do even more to save potential allies. I jumped off the edge, hearing everyone yell a collection of "no!" and "what the hell!?" I was in my element, yet again, the edge of danger. I brought my arms together and tried to catch up to the freefalling Mr. TGFAS and the psycho who kept wanting to kill himself. As I got to them, I told Muscle Boy to grab on to my arm or leg or something. He grabbed onto my arm (almost ripping it off) and with my other, I started up Spade so he could generate some lift.

We glided down, shakily at first until Spade got used to the wait. We landed somewhere in the Highlands I believe. Around a town with a sign saying "Overlook". I realised now that this was the old Hyperion town, before the Raiders liberated it. I warned everyone at the nearby Hyperion base that the Vault Hunter was coming. At the time, I never knew I'd go and help them. Muscley let go of me and nodded to me before throwing the suicidal titan over his back.

The man pulled out his ECHO recorder and in a western-ish voice spoke into it. "This is-" he sighed before continuing "-Krieg. The new guy and I have the prisoner. We'll be using the fast travel to get back up. See you soon." He put it away, cleared his throat and bellowed "LET'S GO, THE MEAT IS GETTING SPOILED!"

"Ummm, okay" I said, backing away from Krieg. I scrolled through the fast travel menu and went to Sanctuary.

After a blinding light hit us both in the face, we digistructed inside Sanctuary and started walking to the city archives. We got a chair for Mr. Vladof and tied him up. He woke up moments later and started screaming at us in a different language. We asked him a lot of questions, even smacked him around a bit. No use.

I raised my voice over the din of the Crimson Raiders prying him for information. I asked for silence, watching as everyone looked at me, puzzled. I strided over to the man and got down on one knee. I looked at his gas mask, near where his eyes would be. I raised my hands and removed my own helmet.

"I'm Ace" I said, giving the helmet to Patricia who smiled and said she'd make some modifications to it. "If I might ask, who are you?"

He stared at me for a while before saying anything. When he did, it came out raspy and death-like "Zak...Zakhar."

"Zakhar? Interestting name. Could you tell me more about you? Like why you're here and everything?"

"I'm Vladof. I come from a highly respected war family. All the men joined the war. I just came back from one when some rebels attacked..." Zakhar calmed as he began to tell us all his story.


	8. Zakhar's story

**Borderlands: Rebellion**

Chapter 8: Zakhar's story

Time: Classified

When the warning siren began to ring, Zakhar realised that he was probably going to die. The rebel risings were the cause of this whole thing. If Vladof just payed every one after the war, this wouldn't have happened. Everything felt as if it was in slow motion when all of a sudden he heard his father calling him inside.

"Come inside, son!" He yelled. Obeying his father's command, Zakher sprinted for the stairs of his house. As he opened the door he saw his mother and father were pushing the refridgerator to the side.

"Get over here, son, we need some help!"

Zakhar moved to the side of the fridge and began to push. As he was doing this, a metal door started to show where the fridge once was. Zakhar's father punched in a four digit code and the door began to slide open. At this moment, a frightened man busted the front door down and begged us to let him stay inside the small fall-out shelter. Zakhar's mother apoligized to him and told him there wasn't enough room. The man cursed and pulled a Dahl pistol out of it's holster and pointed it at Zakhar's mother. His mother screamed and Zakhar's father rushed out of the shelter brandishing a Torgue shotgun. He fired and the man's entire upper body was blown apart by the massive power of the shotgun.

"Quick, let's get inside, we're running out of time." My father said, reloading the firearm. Zakhar and his mother rushed inside and Zakhar's father was close behind, starting to close the 10-inch thick metal door behind us. Then the missiles hit.

Zakhar woke up a little while later and looked at his parents. They were slumped over and were having trouble breathing.

"Dad? Mom?" Zakhar asked, worried.

"H-hey, son" His father managed to cough out "L-looks like...like I did-didn't close" He coughed again "the door t-t-tight enough." His father's head rolled to the side and closed his eyes.

"Dad? Dad!" Zakhar started yelling "Dad! Please! It's alright!"

"Mom? No, no, no mom!" Zakhar turned around, getting hold of his mother's hand "C'mon, mom, it's okay! Really!"

It was to no avail, his parents had died there in the shelter with him. Zakhar sobbed for a minute before realizing that it wouldn't save anyone. He calmed down and then got mad, at the rebels, Vladof, the war, everything. He yelled and screamed as the acid cloud swept inside the shelter. Zakhar breathed it in and adapted to it, starting to use it as his Oxygen. He screamed as his blood began to boil. He raged out and punched the wall, the wall immediately began to age and crumble around him. He smiled and walked outside the shelter. Everyone and everything was dead from the strike. Zakhar wandered upstairs to his father's room and took his Vladof issued armor. Gunmetal black with a star inside a shield painted on it's back. There was a gas mask, three grenades, and a vladof assault rifle. The armor surprisingly fit and Zakhar knew exactly what he was going to do.

He was going to find the assholes who did this, he was going to make them pay.


	9. Dreams and Drinks

**Borderlands: Rebellion**

Chapter 9: Dreams and drinks

Unknown time

"Ace? We got company!" Zakhar yelled to me, tossing me a Hyperion shotgun.

I got the shotgun, checked the magazine, and faced my attackers. They were grotesque, mishapen figures. All black and liquid-looking. I emptied the mag into the nearest one to no avail. The figure didn't even appear to be hurt. It just kept coming at me, slowly. This thing had all the time in the world to get me. Only the world's end would stop it.

I dropped the shotgun and ran back towards the archives. Closing the door behind me, I rushed Patricia upstairs with me and looked through my storage. Grenade mods, shields, class mods...

I kept rooting through before finally finding my Hellfire and Volcano. Taking these, I told Patricia I'd be right back and jumped off the balcony. I stored the Volcano and took out my Hellfire. A fast firing, fire, SMG may just be able to do some damage. Hell, there was even splash damage to boot.

Aiming at the closest one I held the trigger down, emptying 32 rounds of fiery hatred into the figure. Nothing happened, it stopped as if I did something, but all he did was pick a few bullets out of his mass. It and his four other friends came slowly after me. I unlocked the door once again to the archives, shut it, and locked it. Patricia gave me a worried look and ran up to hug me, but I pushed her away, telling her that they were close.

I sprinted back upstairs and got to the balcony. Equipping the volcano, I looked down at the figures massing at the door. I opened fire, (heh) watching as some of them actually lit. My ECHO showed that they were doing zero in fire damage, however, they weren't resistant. I tried all the other elements, including explosive. Nothing, nada, zip.

I sighed and fell back to the floor. I couldn't do it. I'd failed the Crimson Raiders. Patricia walked up to me and I stood up, determined to look like I knew what I was doing. (I didn't) I took her hand in mine and looked back over Sanctuary. I asked her if she knew what was going to happen. She said that she did, the town was going to be destroyed along with us.

I nodded and watched as a single tear fell down her face. I put my hand on her face and with my thumb wiped away the tear. She looked at me, longing in her eyes. I brought her head to mine and brought my lips to hers.

One of the black masses wandered into the room and with one swift motion took us from the world.

June 15th 3:30

I sat up straight in bed, screaming my head off. Axton appeared at the door and opened it up. He stepped inside shutting the door behind him. "Nightmare?" He asked. He sighed as I nodded and walked over to my desk with my gear on it. He turned the chair around, sat down, and crossed his arms. "We got to figure out why, Ace. We can't just have someone screaming and robbing the team of their sleep."

"I'm sorry, sir" I said, standing up and grabbing my street clothes. Black shirt with two gold diagonal stripes from the left shoulder to the right side of my waist. Black cargo pants with a camoflage-like pattern. Normal black socks. I wore gold shoes with black laces and soles. There were wave like patterns on the side as well that were red and black.

"Let's take a walk" Axton said, standing as he talked. He stretched his arms up towards the ceiling and dropped them. He walked towards the door opened it and muttered "Don't call me 'sir'"

We all lived here, in the Crimson house, to the right of Marcus's and left of the Black Market. Guys were on the third floor and girls on the second. Those who hooked up together slept in the girl's room since there were so many guys. Maya had been with Mordecai ever since his bird died. Gaige and Zero hit it off only because of their love of technology. As far as anyone knew they never did anything or dated. They were just really good friends. They'd stay up all night talking and more than once they fell asleep in eachother's room. I was in Tannis's room but she was out right now. Not a good sleeper.

Axton and I left the Crimson house to get me some fresh air. This dream had been recurring ever since we met Zakhar. Something about him gave me the strangest nightmare. I wouldn't tell anyone about when it started though, I felt like they'd kick me out. Axton and I walked down to the landing pad and sat on the edge, our legs hanging in the air.

"So, you and Tannis?" Axton started, nudging me.

"Yeah, problem?" I said, irritated

"No, no problem bro. Just surprised. Nobody ever really liked Tannis. Thought she was insane, y'know? Hell, I though she was cute, I just didn't think I could deal with that" He said, he looked a bit thirsty "Hey, you up for a drink at Moxxi's bar?"

"Sure, Axton, she open this time of night?" I wondered, not catching my accidental innuendo.

"Of course." Axton smiled then laughed "She's aaallllways open!"

"Shut it" I said, standing up.

Axton and I made for the bar talking about previous adventures when we bumped into someone walking out.

"Ahh, hello comrades!" Zakhar said, beating his chest. "What brings you here?"

"Hey, Zak" Axton responded "Ace here had a nightmare and we were gonna go get drinks, would you like to join us?"

"Hmmmm, would a Ruschen man like to join you for drinks?" He asked, scratching his chin

"That's a yes then, c'mon. Let's get in before the bar is taken up." Axton said, rushing inside.

I watched as Axton and Zakhar got into a heated drinking contest. I left about halfway through when Axton said he was 'smashed like Moxxi'. I wandered through the streets of Sanctuary, wondering if this was the right choice. Should I have come here? Sure, Patricia was here, beautiful as she was. But everything was so boring. I think that was the real reason I started having those nightmares. I craved adventure, I craved war, and I craved blood. I went back to my room in the Crimson house to find Patricia there for once. I felt bad now, leaving while she slept. I walked over to bed, leaned over and kissed her forehead. I gathered my things. My Hawk armor, Spade, Monkey wrench, my guns, shield that Patricia had been working on, and my SDU. I equipped the shield and went into my ECHO to look at the shield. It's item card said it was a booster shield with a 10% booster drop chance. Pretty high, it's red flavor text said 'With love, to Ace'. I smiled and closed the menu. I walked out and over to the fast-travel station. I selected 'Claptrap's Place' from the options.


End file.
